Fight Me
by i-x-ship-x-it
Summary: Natsu broke his leg and goes to the hospital where he meets a hot nurse, Gray. What happens when Natsu tries to get to know Gray, but can't seem to find the right words to say?


**Fight Me**

Man, this sucked!

Here was Natsu stuck indoors watching a beautiful day pass by instead of taking full advantage of it. Well, then again it was his own fault for his current predicament which disabled him from enjoying the bright and sunny outdoors. He just had to agree to do that stupid challenge Gajeel proposed. Natsu knew he couldn't skate, not at all, but his stubborn pride and confidence had pushed him to perform that ridiculously complicated skateboard trick. Looking back, Natsu should have known that trick would have cost him a broken leg.

His friends had escorted him to the hospital and stayed with him for a while, but left when Natsu had to get X-rays taken. Now here he laid, alone in this empty white room that smelled too much like lemon-scented air freshener. He gave out a long sigh and slouched back into the mountain of fluffy pillows arranged all around his bed.

Natsu thought that maybe if he buried himself deep enough in this pit of fluff he would somehow be able to alleviate his boredom. Damn this! There was absolutely nothing to do.

"I'm going to die of boredom." Natsu huffed underneath his pillows.

It was then that his nurse came in, or better yet, his saving grace from this numbing boredom. His nurse, who introduced himself as Gray, had been attending him since the minute he arrived at the hospital, from helping him settle into the hospital bed to wheeling him away when he had to get his X-rays taken. Now he made routinely rounds into his room making sure everything was in order and he, the patient, was not in any sort of discomfort.

During all this time, he had observed this nurse closely and concluded that he was attractive. Very attractive. From his dark hair to his blue-gray eyes to his fair skin that complemented all his darker features, Natsu would not deny that he felt an attraction towards this man. Many times he had tried making conversation with him, but his mouth would immediately clamp shut every time their eyes met.

But here he was now! This was his chance to finally talk to him; he was determined.

As Gray made his way towards his bed, Natsu's eyes followed him, waiting for the moment his nurse acknowledged him. He stopped at the end of his bed, where Natsu's broken leg was suspended in the air through a hammock like device. Gray began fumbling with the mechanism, adjusting it a little bit before turning to Natsu and asking him if that felt better.

Honestly, it did. Natsu hadn't even realized it, but the apparatus had been set a little too far up and now with the slight adjustment he felt a lot more comfortable. He wondered how the hell did Gray know it had been uncomfortable when he himself had not even realized it.

Natsu opened his mouth to tell him it felt so much better, when his throat clamped up as their eyes once more met. Instead Natsu quickly settled for giving him a nod as his response. Gray made a few more adjustments around the room before turning around and asking his routinely, "Anything else I can do for you?"

This is it! It's now or never. He had to muster up the courage to start a conversation, but how? He had never experience any trouble making conversation with anyone before. For crying out loud, he was a people's person, so why now? Why this one guy? Why did this guy make his brain draw a blank whenever he talked to him?

His internal frustration had reached it's peak, so without any further thought Natsu blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Fight me!"

The silence that followed afterwards was unbearable. Here he was, still buried underneath his little fortress of pillows with a broken leg, and he had just challenged his hot nurse to fight him. Natsu was internally freaking the fuck out. How the hell could he have said such a stupid thing?

Well no turning back now! He'll just have to roll with it.

Natsu put his most serious and determined face as he stared at Gray, hoping his embarrassment didn't show. Gray's eyes had only widen a fraction at Natsu's outburst before he blinked once. Twice. Without breaking the eye contact with Natsu, he began to move towards him once more.

Holy shit! Was this guy really going to fight him? He had only been joking.

If Gray was really going to fight him, Natsu had a severe disadvantage. He guessed now would be a good time to put his black belt in jujitsu to practice. Wait a second! What was he thinking? They couldn't possible have a fight. He didn't even want to fight the guy to begin with. Quick, he needed some sort of explanation before Gray...moved his pillows?

Natsu had been too enraptured within his own thoughts that he had not notice Gray had already reached his bed. He leaned over his body and moved some pillows away from Natsu as he fixed them in a way that would allow him to see more of his face and body.

Once Natsu was exposed from within his little mountain of pillows, Gray gave him an amused smirk before saying, "Maybe later."

And with that he left.

* * *

The next time Natsu saw Gray was when he was bringing in his breakfast on a tray.

Natsu could not stop thinking about their last encounter and that amused smirk of his. He had been so sure Gray would have thought that apart from being an idiot that broke his leg, he was a weirdo as well, but he had been amused instead. He had thought his little stunt was entertaining!

He could not believe his luck. Natsu thought if he just kept going along with this whole "fight me" thing, he would later be able to have a proper conversation with him. Yes, that was the plan!

So as Gray opened up the curtains to Natsu's room, he thought now was the perfect time. Natsu hurriedly stuffed his breakfast down his throat before he lost his courage once more to talk to the nurse. Unfortunately for him, his excitement had gotten the best of him and as he opened his mouth to once more tell him to fight him, a small portion of his breakfast went down the wrong pipe. He instantly surged into a coughing fit halfway through yelling "fight me".

Gray was immediately by his side and handed him his glass of water, while Natsu pounded on his chest in an effort to stop his coughing fit. He grabbed the glass and gulped down the whole thing, finally clearing his esophagus. As Natsu cleared his throat, he kept his head down, completely embarrassed to even look Gray in the eye now.

Natsu had done fucked up. How wonderful, he thought sourly. Now for sure Gray thought he was an idiot.

Natsu's self-brooding was interrupted by a laugh. He tilted his head up towards Gray just in time to see him let out a laugh before flashing him a grin.

His heart skipped a beat. What a pretty smile. This was the first time Natsu had seen Gray smile. Seeing him smile like that, at him nonetheless, was worth making a complete dumbass of himself.

"You know," Gray began.

"The only reason I won't fight you is because I know you would win."

* * *

At long last! Today was the day he got out of this dreaded hospital. So long and good riddance!

Natsu had gotten a cast for his leg and learned how to walk on crutches. The downside, he had to use the crutches for the next four to six weeks, but on the upside he would get to have all his friends sign his cast with words of encouragement. It evened out in the end.

He was sitting in the waiting room, going through his phone while his dad arrived to pick him up. He hoped he didn't take too long. Natsu was too eager to get out of there, yet a small part of him wished he could have stayed a little longer.

He had been making progress with Gray, but now that he had to leave he realized that all his progress had not accumulated to anything significant. All Natsu had accomplished was making Gray think he was funny to some extent.

He sighed. He guess it just wasn't meant to be.

"Hey, there you are."

Natsu looked in the direction of the voice. His eyes widen as he saw Gray run up to him. Had Gray been looking for him?

When he stood in front of him, all Natsu could do was stare at him in pure surprise. What could Gray possibly want with him? As far as he knew they no longer held this patient-nurse relationship.

Gray grinned down at him. "Didn't think you could leave without properly saying good-bye did you?"

Natsu's eyes widen and a blush began to tint his cheeks. He...wanted to have a proper farewell with him. He opened his mouth to respond when Gray interrupted him.

"You don't say much, do you?"

That comment made Natsu's brow twitch in annoyance. He gave Gray an annoyed glare before responding.

"I do! I just never know what to say to you for some reason."

Gray smirked at this statement. "Am I that intimidating?"

Natsu scoffed. "Don't get cocky. I wouldn't call you intimidating."

"Oh? Then what other reason would you want to fight me for then?"

Natsu visibly flinched at that comment. Dammit! Did he have to bring that up now? Before he could come with some witty retort, his phone began vibrating. He looked at the flashing screen to see he had received a text message.

"It's my dad! He's here."

As Natsu began to rise from his chair, Gray stood directly in front of him.

"Before you leave, here." He extended his hand forward and handed him a coffee from the gift shop. Had he been holding that coffee the entire time? Natsu had not noticed at all.

He grasped the coffee in his hands and looked at Gray questioningly.

"It's my get-better-soon gift," he explained, flashing Natsu a smile once more.

Shit! Natsu was completely caught off guard and his stomach did flip flops at seeing that smile for what would probably be the last time.

Before Natsu could get out a response, Gray began to turn around.

"I should probably get back to work, but I'll talk to you soon."

And with that, he gave Natsu one last cocky smirk before exiting the room. Talk to him soon? What the hell was this guy talking about? He doubted he would ever see, let alone speak to Gray again. Natsu glanced down at the warm coffee in his hands. As he twirled it in his hands, he realized Gray had scribbled something on the cup.

As he read it, Natsu couldn't help but break into a wide, toothy grin because near the bottom of the cup, written in black sharpie were seven digits with the phrase "fight me?" underneath them.

 **The End.**


End file.
